How to Play Animal Crossing on PC Without Switch: Easy Guide

Unfortunately, the problem with Animal Crossing is that for the moment, it’s a Nintendo Switch exclusive. The big question remains, though: is Animal Crossing playable on PC?

In other words, can you play Animal Crossing on a PC without a switch? While it does not have an official PC-dedicated edition, nor can you play Animal Crossing on a browser, you can still find a way to bring it to Windows.

🎯 If you want to play Animal Crossing for PC without Switch, you need to install the Ryujinx emulator on Windows.

How to play Animal Crossing on PC without a Switch

NOTE

Before proceeding with the guide below, you will need to already have a copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons installed on a Nintendo Switch console.

1. Download the OpenAL client here.
   • Once the client is downloaded, extract and install it on your PC.
2. Download the Ryujinx from here and extract it on your PC.
3. Open the newly extracted folder and double-click Ryujinx.exe
   • This will get the emulator running

Now that the Emulator is running, it is time to add Animal crossing to its library:

1. Press File and select the Open Ryujinx folder.
2. Open the System Folder.
3. Drag and drop the Prod.keys file inside
   • The Prod.keys are copyright files that you need to dump in your PC from within a Nintendo Switch
4. Close and re-open the emulator.
5. Go to Tools and select Install Firmware.
6. Choose Install a firmware from an XCI or ZIP.
7. Select any XCI that you had in your Nintendo Switch and click Open.
   • You should receive a prompt telling you that you need to install a firmware update
   • Any version is good as long as it is above 5.1.0
8. Go to Options > Settings.
9. Select your Timezone, System Region and Language.

Now you will need to add your Game directory to the emulator:

1. Select Browse.
2. Navigate to where your Nintendo Switch games have been dumped (backed up).
3. Click Save, and now all your games should be displayed correctly within your emulator.
4. Close the emulator.
5. Make sure your game controller is connected to your PC.
6. Double-click the Animal Crossing: New Horizons icon to launch the game.

Due to its popularity, the game has also managed to find its way to Android emulators. Bluestacks is
another option you can use to play Animal Crossing New Horizons on PC.

Nevertheless, we advise you to only use this option as a plan B since Bluestacks & Animal Crossing incompatibilities often hinder the experience.

If you wish the explore more emulators for PC – including Nintendo ones, don’t be shy
to take a look at RetroArch as well.

Finally, the game itself is not exempt from errors even when played on a Nintendo Switch, and you
can occasionally stumble across Internet connection issues in Animal Crossing.

By following these steps, you should now be able to play Animal Crossing New Horizons on your PC without any restrictions.

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